Before he was CEO of Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg was just another Harvard undergrad buying hot chocolate and chocolate mice on a date with Priscilla Chan. He never got his degree — but he did leave campus with a billion‑dollar idea. Two decades later, he's questioning whether the college path he abandoned is still worth taking.
In an April episode of "This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von," Zuckerberg didn't hold back. "I'm not sure that college is preparing people for the jobs that they need to have today," he said. "If it's not preparing you … and you're starting off in this big hole, then that's not good."
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He added that society still treats college as the default — and anyone who challenges that idea risks sounding radical. "It's sort of been this taboo thing to say of like maybe not everyone needs to go to college," he said, though he believes that mindset is shifting. "There are a lot of jobs that don't require that, and people are probably coming around to that opinion a little more now than … ten years ago."
Zuckerberg credited Harvard with shaping his personal life — it's where he met his wife and his early Facebook co‑founders — but he was blunt about its limits. The social experience was valuable, he said, but the promise of guaranteed opportunity no longer matches reality.
He also argued that the education system hasn't kept up with technology. With AI advancing faster than most curriculums, Zuckerberg said kids should already be learning how to use it — not just how to code it. "The technology changes a lot," he said. "It's obviously a lot different now than it was 20 years ago when I got started."
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His comments echo growing frustration among young workers. A ResumeGenius survey of 1,000 full‑time Gen Z employees found that one in four regret going to college or wish they'd chosen a more lucrative field such as tech, finance, or healthcare.
Still, the data tells a more complicated story. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bachelor's degree holders earn about 66% more on average than those with only a high school diploma. Fields like engineering, business, computer science, and agriculture continue to show the strongest upward salary trends — and despite frustrations, employers are still projecting increased average starting salaries in these categories for 2025 grads, per the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
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At the same time, disparities persist. Women, racial minorities, and older workers tend to earn less than their peers with identical degrees. So while a diploma may still unlock higher income potential overall, that payoff is uneven — and far from guaranteed.
Zuckerberg may have dropped out, but the honorary degree Harvard later handed him seems more symbolic than corrective. The real lesson, as he tells it now, is simpler: in a world where debt piles up faster than opportunity, maybe it's time to stop treating college like the only way forward.
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Image: Midjourney
